I remember being so saddened when I heard of Bob's passing at such a young age. Some of you may not know that Mr. Hatcher, one of the best science teachers at Palo Verde, ended up being Bob's stepdad when he married Bob's mom later in life. Mr. Hatcher is now sadly deceased too. One of my fondest memories of Bob took place in Vietnam, the summer of '71, when my USO troupe performed for the 101st Airborne division just south of the DMZ. Bob was serving in Vietnam at the time, and he ended up being one of our escorts and technicians for a couple of days. He also filmed our show. It was a bittersweet encounter seeing Bob over there. I hated to see any of our young guys in such harms way. To contemplate the fact that Bob made it through the war, and then died of spinal menningitis...it all seems so unfair. Bob was a kind and personable man, devoted to family and serving his country - a true hero in my eyes and those who knew him. God rest his soul.

A memory I have of Bob was after he had his bad bike wreck in high school. He was in St. Joseph's hospital and all torn up. Kathy Petersen and I went to visit him. Despite his varied injuries, he kept us entertained and laughing. He was such an upbeat guy and fun to be around. His death must have been such a devastating loss to his family and friends. I was so sorry to read of his passing.It was neat to read that Karen saw him when she was performing and he was stationed in Vietnam. What a small world. I'm sure that was truly THE bright spot during his tour of duty!